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This one for me personally is dedicated to DJ Aaron O of San Francisco’s Love Garage held at King Street Garage. He was one of the first of our scene to pass and one of the last friends i really remember dying from AIDS (thankfully!). Aaron was a resident DJ at Love garage in 1993 and any and every time i hear this track, i think of him and the amazing music and times we had with the true amazing early 1990’s house music! Here is to you Aaron! You will live forever in my memory as this tune does….

I came across this video one day randomly when i was looking on Youtube. I have a feeling that this may be an old viral great, but i had never seen it and i was rolling on the ground. I give that guy a clap for 1. his truly stylish atire (is it Sunday??) and 2. for his true unaware-ness of how truly bad this commercial is. It wins in the ‘so bad it is good’ category. I hope you enjoy it!

The house is called The Koshland House and is one of San Francisco’s landmark number 95. (http://www.victorianalliance.org/house-tour/house-histories/koshland-house/)
It was built beginning in 1904 and housed many refugees after the earthquake. My ancestors built this house because they were in the process of getting ready to build Emanu-el down the street on Anza. You can see the giant terracota dome of the church in the arial shots here. I try to imagine what it must have been like to have grown up here in San Francisco in the victorian era. Things were so very different back then! It may look glamorous but there were a LOT and i mean A LOT of unwritten societal rules that had to be adhered to or your whole families reputation could be at risk. There was (at least for a woman) a lot of down time too. I think that this is part of the reason for having such large families. That and to help keep the wealth within the family lines as well. There was a lot of 1st 2nd and 3rd cousin marriages within families back then. If they went outside those lines, they stayed within their ethnic culture (mine being Bavarian Jews).

I hope you enjoy it!

…Nothing like a little bit of pressure to fill some pretty big shoes! I am just going to let someone else in the family worry about accomplishing that! Instead, i will be the family historian for myself and all of you….😉

Bernal is kicking out some serious talent here. By the time you are finished watching this video, you are going to be thinking just what i did after i saw it… I WANT ONE!! Keep your eyes peeled. The only thing better than good design… Is local good design! Now you have been illuminated! (bad pun i know and am sorry!🙂

One of the best little neighborhoods in the world. I am grateful to have ended up over here. Before here i had lived in the panhandle (now days it is called NOPA) but since as the new name tells you, it has been almost thoroughly gentrified. Not Bernal! Hopefully it never will be! THANKS BERNAL! I love you back!

You may not know the name Aaron Swartz, but i guarantee that you can be thanking him and a number of others for a multi year battle keeping our beloved internet from being censored.

You may remember a while ago when many websites chose to go black for 24 hours in protest to the bill up in front of congress that at that time they were calling SOPA. It did not pass thanks to the grassroots work that Aaron and his friends did. They managed to do the imposible… Stop a bill that was unopposed from passing in congress.

Anyway, it is so sad to report that Aaron took his life. He was facing a 35 year prison sentence that he was to be reporting into soon. Maybe that was the reason. His family said that he had also always suffered from depression. This doesn’t surprise me. Often brilliant people pay the price on the inside. Regardless to why he took his life. He did so much in the short time he was here.

Since today is my birthday AND i re-installed a new system OS, i thought i would celebrate by posting this Sony Bravia add. Not as cool as their paint and their balls adds, but equally as beautiful! I think you all will like this one too. Enjoy!

Pretty clever as always. From his frozen wine Amy Winehouse portrait to a kung fu portrait of Bruce Lee using just karate chops to place paint, this guy never stops with his creative endeavors. This time… Pancakes! And such beautiful pancakes too! For any creative foodie who really wants to impress that person that finally stays over and allows you to make them breakfast… You will for sure steal their heart if your delicious food looks this cool!

I am not regularly a huge fan of pop music… the cheezieness, the productional values, the general lack of diversity and creativity not to mention talent…. However i am and have always been incredibly moved by incredible vocals. They can take me places other sounds rarely can.

Although this is from about 5 years ago, it is such an awesome performance that translates to empowerment. It is truly empowering to see and hear Christina Aguilera – It’s A Man’s World – Grammys 2007 performance. For those of us women who may be feeling like their spirit has been week lately. This one is for you. It is a stand alone performance that she not only OWNS, but sings the heck out of.

Maybe it will help to recharge your vigor ladies!… Men, enjoy a hot chick who can go toe to toe with the great James Brown!

We have a local SF artist by the name of Barry McGee who is one of the godamn coolest artists i can think of. I have this secret crush on him or his work or his attitude or something. He is just so fucking amazingly talented and so down to earth and true. He is an authentic street graffiti artist as well as an Art Institute of San Francisco (the oldest art school west of the Mississippi!) grads and now is one of their highly regarded alumni. I would give my little pinky to be able to watch him in action. I believe that creativity just flows through those highly trained eyes and hands.

His story is of success but also tragedy due to his loss of his (also super talented and AI trained artist) Margret Kilgallen with whom was married to and just had baby, to a quick acting cancer in 2001. She was only 34 years old.

Margaret Kilgallen

Thankfully Barry McGee forages on with the new role as parent but with success surrounding his every step.

If you have not taken the 9 minutes or so that this piece of film is, your life is not complete. You just need to sit back and watch, It is like ‘Battle at Kruger’ but with thousands of people vs. the military police. The people just wanted to pray at the time they prey and boy did they fight the right fight so they could! I love how the religions protect the other in this piece. It is just a beautiful display of man! Bravo Egypt. Bravo!

As i have been trying to rack my brain all afternoon trying to think of what i wanted to share with you today… It has been painful and pretty unfruitful. Thank goodness for me, i prepare for days just like this, and i dig deep into the vault of most insane most incredible most coolest things and sometimes some really cute things too. (i am a sucker for cross species friendship… beware. you have been warned!)

Anyway, this is a video of a news story that came out a few years ago back in 2008, but just 4 years later, is not THAT long ago. I have a feeling not too much has changed.

So all you ladies in the house, unless you are from Russia of course!… Be thankful for where you have to exist because i sure would not want to be a single mom or professional woman in that country!!

When the quake struck at 5:04pm, I was at my High School. I was waiting for my mom after swim team practice. Our school was off of Old San Jose Rd. which was about 8 miles directly south of Loma Prieta. It was pretty crazy to say the least.

I remember a lot of things about the earthquake and the chaos that ensued but one of the biggest things that stands out in my mind was the sense of community that was formed out of necessity. We did not have the bullshit of all of the red tape, or social parameters that we so strictly live by these days. It was neighbor helping neighbor and everyone did help. It was effortless. It was smooth and efficient. It was beautiful. When i think about how society is breaking down with all of the corruption and greed that we are drowning in today vanishes when the structure of our society gets shook up. We dont need some committee or rule telling us every inch how to live our lives. We KNOW how to live our lives. And without that meddling, true community sprouts up effortlessly. We dont need more laws and groups telling us what is good. We as humans KNOW what is good. If we could get less interference, we would be able to see that we do good things because that is our nature… not because we are told to and if we dont we get into trouble.

While i am waiting patiently for our next big shaker so that rents go down, i from time to time watch this video to remember just who is in charge… hint… it aint us!

When i was in my early 20’s to late teens, i was trying to get my mind around outer space. It was mind boggling. Then i saw a piece on Puma Punku and realized that i did not have to go so far to find crazy unexplainable mysteries. They are right here on earth!

Everybody knows about Stonehenge and the Pyramids etc. But that is nothing compared to Puma Punku up in the high desert of Bolivia. The cuts in the stone is so perfectly smooth and angles so perfectly sharp and 90degrees and cut into diorite which is the 2nd hardest stone on earth. Nothing is stronger except diamonds. They even poured moultin metal to make staples! There is just no explaining Puma Punku. It boggled my mind in 1993 and it still does to this very day.

If you think we are highly knowledgeable about where we came from and how long we have been here on earth, then you need to do some exploring because there are places on this planet that are just unexplainable. True mysteries in our civilization of the 21st century.

I do not think that we have the knowledge or ability to grasp the knowledge of our past on planet earth. I do think though, that we are barley scratching the surface in regards to our intelligence and advancements in our pasts. I hope you enjoy and find it as mind blowing as i do! Do a little more research on it… i dare you!

Although i love watching shows like My fair wedding and Say yes to the dress, I personally can not invision any type of over the top or church wedding. The most i have envisioned was maybe eloping with a couple friends to Vegas or even better Reno! I could not imagine spending 5-6k on a dress and another 1/2 that on a cake. It not just comes down to the stress of planning something so huge, but i can not justify spending that stupid kind of money on something that is so elaborate and lasts one sweet day, (and i also think that the more production, the bigger jinx for the success for the marriage. It makes more sense to do some large celebration after 10 successful years of marriage not before the tough stuff actually starts!)

However, there are some simple things that are romantic and make for a special occasion that i do like the idea of that do not to seem in fashion. A tiny wedding with friends and family. A good meal and good dessert. Pretty flowers. A wonderful honeymoon weekend…. You get the idea. I do not want to be married i City Hall or at some super expensive resort. I dont know where i would want to get wed if not an elopement but i do know what i do not want.

Then i came across this little video. I think out of all of the cable weddings that i have seen and even the actual weddings that i have been to, this is the MOST TOTALLY ROMANTIC WEDDING I have ever watched. I am proud to have these clever in love folks claiming the city as their home too.

Maybe we should start taking a cue from them. I think that their wedding is not going to be something that they will ever forget! It is so romantic, especially with the parents on bikes too! It is such a touching love story and i do not even know what the love story is. I am just going to stop talking and let you all just watch and enjoy!!

Here is one of the last Sony Bravia commercials that i am going to post.. Maybe not the very last but we are winding down. I am also including in this posting the link to the making of this add. The behind the scenes allows one to see just how awesome these commercials are!